Mr. Asphitel, in his able lecture on Chester Cathedral, bestowed the name of Promptuarium on this Norman cloister: he says—“These are vaulted apartments of early Norman work, and are described in the charter of Henry Eighth, by which he divides the properties between the Bishop and Dean, _promptuaria et pannaria_, the former derived from a word denoting a butler or steward, probably a buttery; and the latter, from _pannus_, a cloth, probably the place for clothing.” Mr. Ayrton, in an able paper on the Norman remains of the Cathedral, read before the Chester Archæological Association, entered into an elaborate inquiry on the subject, stating his reasons for concluding that this is not a _Promptuarium_, but, in his opinion, a spacious Hall, where the splendid hospitality of the Abbots was displayed to strangers, friends, and dependents. There is a vaulted passage at the south end of the _Promptuarium_, leading from the Abbot’s apartments to the Cathedral: the arches are circular, the groining is ribbed with elliptical mouldings; these mouldings stamp a semi-Norman character on the work, being almost a transition to the early English style. “Two beautiful Norman doorways gave ingress and egress from the passage, and still remain, though the one which opened to the present west cloister is closed, and sadly disfigured by the alterations of the sixteenth century. The other doorway, to the west, is yet perfect, excepting the shafts of the pillars, which are gone. At the south end of the east cloister, and forming the present entrance from that cloister to the Cathedral, is a Norman doorway of about the same date as the arcade adjoining it. The architrave is very ornate, bearing the billet ornaments, accompanied by a bead which runs between the mouldings; the capitals of the pilasters are foliated, and identical with those already noticed in the Norman doorway of the vaulted passage.” The dimensions of the Cathedral are as follows:—Length from east to west, 350 feet; nave, 160; choir, 125; Lady Chapel, 65; transept from north to south, 180; breadth of nave, choir, and aisles, 74½ feet; south wing of transept, 80 feet square; height of nave and choir, 78 feet; tower, 127; Lady Chapel, 33; north wing of transept, 39 feet broad. The following is a list of the Bishops, from the foundation of the see, in 1541, to the present date:—